Massachusetts Daily Collegian: September 25, 2014

DailyCollegian.comThursday, September 25, 2014

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UMass football returns to campus this Saturday. The game begins at 3 p.m.

By Catherine FerrisCollegian Staff

For those in attendance at this year’s Homecoming game, new responsibili-ties and regulations will be enforced at the event, tak-ing place at the recently renovated McGuirk Stadium this Saturday. The return to McGuirk Stadium has prompted a number of new policies for tailgating and parking on game days. University of Massachusetts Athletics laid out the regulations, drink-ing policies, parking, medical services and traffic plans on the UMass Football website. Tailgating is permitted four hours before the game starts, and may continue 90 minutes after the end of the game. Fans are not allowed to remain in the parking lot during the duration of the game, and will be asked to either enter the stadium, or leave the tailgate area. Both UMass Police as well as UMass Parking Services will be on site to make sure traffic will flow smoothly. In addition to ensuring that traffic will be safe, the UMPD will also be enforcing state laws. These are outlined on the website, specifying that those under the age of 21 years of age who are holding or drinking alcohol or driv-ing a vehicle that contains alcohol are subject to arrest. The UMass Football website also noted that those under the influence of alcohol while driving, as well as those who create a dangerous situation are subject to arrest. UMPD will be able to check the identification of campus guests, students and football patrons who are drinking alcohol. Students are also held accountable for on-campus rules and regula-tions that are to be associated with these legal violations.

Beverages must be con-sumed from non-glass con-tainers, and drinking games involving excessive alcohol consumption are prohibited. The site also reminded fans that UMass is a tobacco free campus. Guests are invited to par-ticipate in the activities on MinuteFan Way, which will include live entertainment, mini golf, video game trailers and face painting. MinuteFan Way is scheduled to be open to the public four hours before game time. Medical Services will be located in the southwest corner of the stadium, as well as in a marked tent on MinuteFan Way next to Parking Lot 11. Parking policies were also outlined in the release, not-ing that season ticket holder parking is available in Lot 11 for the upcoming football sea-son, while handicapped park-ing will be available inside the stadium on the score-board end in Red Lot. Any other traffic will be directed to lots 22 and 23, which are across from the Southwest Residential Area. Cars must find a lot to park as, “Roadside parking is prohibited unless otherwise directed.” Players and fans alike are excited for the atmosphere around football games on campus. “A lot of people on cam-pus are talking about how they can’t wait to come,” offensive tackle Tyrell Smith said at practice Wednesday. “Everybody always com-plains like ‘I don’t want to come all the way to Gillette,’ now all they have to do is get up, come out, tailgate and walk over to the game.” The return to McGuirk begins with the homecoming game this Saturday at 3 p.m., followed by two other games on Oct. 18 and Nov. 12.

Catherine Ferris can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @Ca_Ferris2.

Concerns include parking, tailgating

By Brianna Zimmerman Collegian Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The University of Massachusetts Center at Springfield held its grand opening event on Wednesday, marking the start of a chance for those in the area to bet-ter their education. The event took place in Springfield Tower Square in order to emphasize the positive impacts of higher learning on the city. A variety of distinguished speakers were present, includ-ing UMass President Robert L. Caret, UMass Board of Trustees Chairman Henry M. Thomas III, Governor Deval Patrick, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy, UMass Building Authority Chairman Philip W. Johnston, Mayor of Springfield Domenic J. Sarno and Senator James T. Welch. Each speaker commented on the benefit of the loca-

tion of the UMass Center at Springfield. “For me, this center is not an abstraction,” Patrick said. “It’s not even just about the 300 students who have already oversubscribed to this space…it’s about what is represented and what is possible for the people of Springfield and the people of the Commonwealth.” The UMass Center’s 26,000 square-foot facility was funded completely by the state for $5.2 million dollars. The Center offers 40 courses across ten programs including liberal arts, nursing and education. These programs were chosen based on the necessity for these industries specifically in Springfield. Students from both Holyoke Community College and Springfield Technical Community College have ben-efited from the presence of the UMass Center in Springfield. “All of the students at the Center belong to whatever campus they are already enrolled in. They pay those tuitions, those fees and noth-

ing else,” said Dr. Lynn Griesemer, executive direc-tor of the UMass Donahue Institute. The UMass Center simply provides a place for classes to be taught. Nursing students at UMass attend classes week-ly at the new facility in Springfield, according to Clare Lamontagne, undergradu-ate program director of the College of Nursing. There is a simulated lab at the facil-ity, specialized for future home health aids and visiting nurs-es. UMass nursing student Fay Khudairi said she enjoys the new facility and can see its convenience for people who live in the area. Lucy Carvalho, a native of Springfield, is a new faculty

member at the facility. “I’m so excited,” she said. “I’m using what I learned from working in the community as a volunteer, and my nursing, and I’m hoping that my stu-dents will make impacts in other ways.” Chancellor Subbaswamy concluded his speech by say-ing, “The distance between Amherst and Springfield just got a lot shorter,” with so many professors from the University’s flagship campus in Amherst teaching classes in Springfield. The Center is expected to double in size in the future.

Brianna Zimmerman can be reached at [email protected].

Opportunity awaits at new UM campus

Record enrollment attained across all UMass campuses

By Brendan deadyCollegian Correspondent

The University of Massachusetts five college campuses are collectively projected to serve a record number of students this fall, according to a UMass press release This surge in enrollment contributes to an overall growth in the UMass system that not only serves Massachusetts residents, but also stimulates the state’s economy, according to a report by the Donahue Institute of the Isenberg School of Management. Enrollment numbers throughout UMass’ Amherst,

Lowell, Dartmouth, Boston and Worcester campuses are projected at 73,614 students for this academic year, a 30 percent surge from a decade ago. “Over the past decade, families across the Commonwealth have real-ized that UMass is the smart choice on so many levels. … I am very proud that UMass has become the home for so many sons and daugh-ters of the Commonwealth,” President Robert L. Caret said at a meeting with the UMass Board of Trustees on Academic and Student Affairs last week in Boston. The increase in just the number of applica-tions alone was likewise at a record high this year for the UMass system, caus-

ing acceptance standards to rise throughout the system. The average SAT score for the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s entering freshman class rose ten points from last year to 1218 and the aver-age GPA rose from a 3.73 to a 3.78 according to the press release. “The number of applica-tions and the quality of our students is rising through-out our campuses as more and more students and par-ents recognize the excellence and affordability of UMass and the value of their public university,” Caret said. Ann Scales, director of communications at UMass, attributes the rising number

State residents and students to benefit

Mass shootings in US have tripled, says FBI

By riChard a. serranoTribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The number of sudden mass shootings in the United States has nearly tripled in recent years, the FBI said Wednesday, prompt-ing the bureau to expand its work with state and local officials to identify potential gunmen before they attack. In a study of active-shooter incidents, FBI offi-cials said there were 160 cases from 2000 through 2013, with the numbers growing from an average of 6.4 incidents in the first seven years to 16.4 in the last seven years. Seventy percent of the shooters attacked in schools or

workplaces, and 60 percent of the shootings happened so fast that they were over before the police arrived. “How do we prevent these?” said James Yacone, FBI assistant director. “We want to engage with these people early and start a dialogue, and get the per-son off the path to vio-lence.” Yacone was the top bureau official in Colorado in July 2012 when 12 people were killed and 58 wound-ed at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater. That inci-dent topped the FBI’s sur-vey with the most casual-ties. It was followed by the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech (49 killed and wound-ed); the 2009 Fort Hood,

Texas, shooting (45 killed and wounded), and the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. (29 killed and wounded). Authorities gave sev-eral reasons for the rise in mass shootings, includ-ing copycat killers and the availability of firearms. Andre Simons, super-visory special agent assigned to the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Va., said the bureau has the resources to help local authorities identify potential shoot-ers, many of whom have “deeply held personal grievances” and often qui-etly start planning an “act

Grand opening for Springfield Center

see SHOOTINGS on page 2

New policies and regulations for McGuirk Stadium

see ENROLLMENT on page 2

PAGE 4 PAGE 8PAGE 5

“Fixing the SGA is ourresponsibility.”

- Columnist EmilyDevenney

Showtime & HBOchase perfectionwith premium cablerivalry

BACK IN TOWN

It’s about what is represented and what is possible for the people of

Springfield and the people of the Commonwealth.”Governor Deval Patrick

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN2 Thursday, September 25, 2014 DailyCollegian.com

T H E R U N D O W N

ON THIS DAY...In 1992, NASA launched the Mars Observer, a $511 million probe to Mars. This was the first U.S. mission to the planet in 17 years. Eleven months later, the probe failed its mission.

JERUSALEM — Israel on

Tuesday shot down a Syrian

fighter jet that it said had

flown into Israeli–controlled

airspace over the Golan

Heights.

The Russian-made

Sukhoi-24 fighter was tar-

geted with a U.S.-supplied

Patriot ground–to–air mis-

sile after it had “infiltrated

into Israeli airspace,” the

Israeli army said.

Israel captured the Golan

Heights from Syria in the

1967 Middle East War and

later annexed the territory,

a strategic plateau overlook-

ing northern Israel.

-McClatchy Foreign Staff

JERUSALEM — After an

extended manhunt, Israeli

security forces on Tuesday

tracked down and killed two

Palestinians suspected of

abducting and slaying three

Israeli teenagers in the West

Bank in June, the army

said.

The kidnapping, blamed

by Israel on the militant

Islamist group Hamas, set

in motion a sequence of

events that led to the recent

war in Gaza, in which more

than 2,000 Palestinians and

72 Israelis and a foreign

worker died.

In public remarks after

the suspects were killed,

Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu said he had told

the parents of the slain

teenagers that “justice had

been done.”

McClatchy Foreign Staff

BEIJING — A Chinese

court convicted a moderate

Uighur scholar of separat-

ism and sentenced him to

life in prison Tuesday fol-

lowing what human rights

advocates called “a show

trial” likely to worsen eth-

nic tensions in the far west

of China.

The scholar, Ilham Tohti,

had operated a website

critical of Chinese policies

against Uighurs, Turkic-

speaking Muslims who call

China’s Xinjiang region

their homeland. Authorities

arrested him at his home in

Beijing in January, follow-

ing several years of deten-

tions and official harass-

ment.

McClatchy Foreign Staff

Distributed by MCT Information

Services

A RO U N D T H E W O R L D

of catastrophic violence.” Simons said many are troubled at work or school, while others fol-low the news of shootings and seek similar notoriety. “The copycat phenomenon is real,” he said. “They often become inspired by past incidents.” But they can be spotted early by police, ministers or teachers, and Simons said his unit receives up to three requests a week from local authorities seeking help evaluating potential gunmen. “We

want to get the person the help they need,” he said. “It’s our job to help them find alternatives to vio-lence.” The FBI report found a total of 1,043 casualties during those 14 years, with 486 killed and 557 wounded. All but two of the shootings involved single gunmen; six of the shooters were female; in nine cases the shooters killed family members first; and five gunmen in four shootings remain at large.

SHOOTINGS continued from page 1

of students and applicants to the quality and afford-ability that a UMass educa-tion provides, particularly in a time where attending college is becoming increas-ingly expensive. “People want the best quality in their prod-uct for the best price and with education it’s no dif-ferent,” Scales said. “The surge in enrollment is recognition of the amaz-ing value for an amaz-ing quality of education offered by the University of Massachusetts.” Anthony Desalvo, fresh-man biology major from Boston, reinforced this sen-timent. “One of the main reasons I chose UMass Amherst was because of the cost, it made the most sense to go to an affordable school. Also UMass is known to have a strong science program. The College of Natural Sciences is ranked in the top 100 in the country,” he said. Desalvo is one of 9,314 freshman expected to have enrolled into the four undergraduate program of the UMass system at this year, an slight increase from last year according to the press release. “We’ve had to respond by building new academic facilities, new residence halls and other facilities to serve new students,” Caret told the Boston Globe in early September. UMass spent $3 bil-lion over the past decade on construction. The unprecedented level of expansion is one of many beneficial effects that the growth of the UMass system has played on the Massachusetts economy. Spending tied to UMass

employees, operations, research, students and con-struction as well as a $6.1 billion contribution to the Massachusetts economy in the Fiscal Year 2013 was responsible for establish-ing over 45,000 jobs, accord-ing the report released by the Donahue Institute. “This report demon-strates that in addition to providing academic excel-lence…the University of Massachusetts is a signifi-cant economic driver for the Commonwealth,” President Caret said according to the UMass press release. UMass’s economic con-tributions are assisted by the fact that so many of its graduates utilize their educations in sur-rounding communities. According to Daniel Fitzgibbons, associate director for Media Relations at UMass, the University has the highest percent of graduates that stay in-state than any other uni-versity in Massachusetts “Our graduates put their education to use in Massachusetts, they work here, consume, pay taxes and contribute to an intelligent work-force,” Fitzgibbons said.  “This is why the record number of enrollment is such great news,” Scales added. “It leads to a more qualified student popula-tion that graduates ready to assist our state’s economy. And the construction of new facilities and the new facilities themselves pro-vide jobs for people of many communities. Everyone benefits from a growing and stronger public education system in Massachusetts.”

Brendan Deady can be reached at [email protected].

ENROLLMENT continued from page 1

Eisenhower memorial design passes one more hurdle

By Maria recioMcClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The Eisenhower Memorial Commission, under fire from lawmakers and crit-ics over a controversial design to honor the nation’s 34th president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, decided Wednesday in an unusual email vote to proceed with a revised design by famed architect Frank Gehry. The 8-2 vote means that the commission, which has been dogged by dis-putes over the design and funding for the last sev-eral years, will return to the National Capital Planning Commission with the revised design Oct. 2. Earlier this year, the com-mission, one of the memo-rial’s approving bodies, rejected the original Gehry plan. The Eisenhower memo-rial, first approved by Congress in 1999, has bare-ly moved off center since Gehry’s design was unveiled in 2010. Critics blasted the design, and the late presi-dent’s grandson, historian David Eisenhower, resigned from the commission, though he had been sup-portive of Gehry’s design. The family, how-ever, was split. David Eisenhower’s sisters, the former president’s grand-daughters, Susan and Anne Eisenhower, emerged as vocal opponents of the original design. They now speak for the family, and in a letter Sept. 15 they said it would not support the revised Gehry design,

either. Congress has cut back on the memorial’s funding because of the ongoing con-troversy. N o n e t h e l e s s , Wednesday’s vote may well give momentum to the world-renowned architect’s revised vision and jump-start the process after crit-ics had been arguing for a complete overhaul of his design. Gehry’s willingness to compromise with oppo-nents has won over some of the stiffest opposition. The modified design removes two of the metal tapestries that have been the center of controversy, leaving one large tapes-try along the length of the memorial space and two bas-relief sculptures in the middle. Gehry eliminated the two tapestries, which the planning commission said diminished the sight lines to the U.S. Capitol, and left two 80-foot columns to frame the four-acre rect-angular space. The memo-rial is designated to be built on a tract on the National Mall across from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and in front of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building. Planning commission

members were generally favorable to the revised design when they first saw it at an informational meet-ing earlier this month. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who is on the plan-ning commission, had asked that the Eisenhower com-mission members consider an alternative that removed the remaining tapestry altogether and left only the so-called memorial core _ a bas-relief of Eisenhower as supreme allied commander on D-Day, another of him as president, and a sculp-ture of him in the middle as a young cadet at the U.S. Military Academy. However, the commis-sion rejected that option Wednesday, and it sepa-rately rejected an option to delay a decision until November, also by a vote of 8-2. Drama over the memo-rial continued Wednesday when it was disclosed that Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., one of the original com-mission members who had served since 2001, had resigned on Sept. 17, the day of the Eisenhower com-mission’s annual meeting. At that meeting, there were not enough commis-sion members for a quo-rum, so the staff proposed a virtual vote for Sept. 24.

Wednesday’s vote may give momentum to the world-renowned architect’s revised vision and jumpstart the process after critics had been arguing for a complete

overhaul of his design.

Arts Living“Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?” - Monty Python [email protected], September 25, 2014

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Father-son duo Tweedy to rock the Calvin Theatre

By Jackson MaxwellCollegian Staff

This Saturday night, Jeff Tweedy, the lead singer of Wilco, will hit the stage of the Calvin Theatre in Northampton with his son Spencer. As Tweedy, a band titled for their shared last name, they will show off the electric musical chemistry they shared on their debut album “Sukierae” which was released on Sep. 23. The band serves as an out-let for the elder Jeff Tweedy to explore previously unseen talents and to expand his already immense profile as a songwriter. His son, rather than giving his father’s songs an extra level of cozy domes-ticity, pushes the tracks to heights they may have not reached if Jeff Tweedy had recorded them either by him-self or with Wilco. Tweedy is a thrilling com-bination of youth and expe-rience. While Jeff Tweedy is incredibly comfortable in his approach to the band’s songs after 25 years in music, Spencer Tweedy’s drumming is almost impatient. Whenever it seems that his father’s songs may be slowing their pace too much or becoming too com-plicit, Spencer Tweedy inter-jects a thrilling rhythmic statement that throws the song off its axis. Although Spencer Tweedy is only 18 years old, his aspira-tions extend far beyond the band he has with his father. His drumming on soul legend Mavis Staples’ 2013 album “One True Vine” won him much admiration, with crit-ics noting his extensive tal-ents and abilities behind the drums despite his young age. Jeff Tweedy’s musical resume more than speaks for itself. Before Tweedy or Wilco, Jeff Tweedy was a part

of alternative country legend Uncle Tupelo with Jay Farrar and Mike Heidorn. Although they never achieved commer-cial success, Uncle Tupelo was enormously influential with albums like “No Depression” and “Anodyne,” easily estab-lishing themselves as cult favorites. Even if Jeff Tweedy had never gone on to form Wilco, his reputation would have already been cemented. Around the ashes of Uncle Tupelo, a short-lived, but incredibly creative alternative country genre was formed, combining the angry energy of punk with the emotional songwriting of folk and Americana. It was with Wilco, though, that Jeff Tweedy truly cement-ed his reputation as one of the most gifted songwriters of his generation. Wilco’s run of albums from 1996 to 2002, which saw the release of the double album “Being There,” “Summerteeth” and “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” was a streak of brilliance that few rock bands before or since have come close to emulating. On those three records, Tweedy took the genre bend-ing he had toyed with in Uncle Tupelo to its thrilling extreme. Fighting through both personal and profes-sional troubles, Tweedy added to his already potent mix of folk, country and punk, ele-

ments of avant-garde and noise rock. Showing a clear evolution with each passing album, Wilco became one of the most critically acclaimed rock bands in America, and has remained so ever since. The father-son collabo-ration on “Sukierae” was a prolific one, with Jeff Tweedy claiming he had 90 songs up his sleeve during the sessions. The 20 that eventually made up the record are a tantalizing exploration of the genres Jeff Tweedy has spent his entire career taking cues from, with fascinating interpretations and turns from his son. Jeff Tweedy’s wife and Spencer Tweedy’s mom, Susan Tweedy, recently battled with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This casts a subtle but notice-able shadow on the songs and gives them an extra palpable tension. “Sukierae” is a fasci-nating document of an even more intriguing premise for a band - a rock star father and his teenage son, mostly recording by themselves. Sure it has happened before, but no father-son duo has ever pro-duced a record that is close to this good. You can come see this fasci-nating dynamic play out at the Calvin Theatre this Saturday night. Tickets range from $39.50 to $49.50.

Jackson Maxwell can be reached at [email protected].

Wilco’s front man promotes new LP

C O N C E R T P R E V I E W

The titans of premium TV

By alexander FrailCollegian Staff

Showtime or HBO? It’s an argument my friends and I have more often than I can tell you. Few shows have achieved the excellence in writing like Showtime’s “Masters of Sex” or “Episodes.” Then again, HBO is king of the Emmys. Just this year it raked in 19 trophies, buoyed by the excellent “True Detective.” Comparatively, Showtime won four. Regardless of which network reigns over television, our debate has been misguided. Together, the TV titans have churned out a generation of riveting television. Showtime’s programs have failed to gain as much traction as many of their HBO counterparts. “Party Down,” a comedy that should be list-ed with immortal names like “Arrested Development” and “30 Rock,” failed in its sopho-more season despite critical raves. Low Nielsen ratings killed the show’s chance at a third year. Despite the strong cast led by Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan and Jane Lynch, the catering comedy lurked in obscurity for its two seasons. Both Scott (“Parks and Recreation”) and Lynch (“Glee”) opted for more promising parts on basic cable. The mishandling of comedic gold seems to be a fixture of the network’s past. In 2011, the British/American crossover “Episodes” premiered to stel-lar reviews. Three years later, the program still draws raves and Showtime has renewed it for its fourth year. The show stars Matt LeBlanc as a fictionalized version of him-self, a role that earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in 2012. The “Episodes’” pilot contains more laughs than most basic cable sitcoms accumulate in a season’s run. Showtime also draws the

star power that once was reserved for HBO. Claire Danes famously said to NPR that she “wanted to be a part of that Renaissance,” refer-ring to her return to televi-sion and taking on the role on “Homeland” as CIA analyst Carrie Mathison. Similarly, both Kristen Bell and Don Cheadle pursued the small screen in “House of Lies.” Before his fatal overdose in February, revered actor Philip Seymour Hoffman had signed onto a Showtime pilot. HBO has long drawn actors to its hallowed screens. Steve Buscemi abandoned the silver screen for the Atlantic City of “Boardwalk Empire” and “True Detective” nabbed three A-listers with Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and Michelle Monaghan. The network recently confirmed that sea-son two would star both Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn. While maintaining this mag-netic draw for actors, HBO has also maintained its vise grip on award season. The network’s promi-nence comes from its high profile programs. Most recently, “Game of Thrones” grew from a promising fan-tasy crossover to a cultur-ally significant behemoth. Its pilot, viewed by 2.2 million viewers, enticed audiences worldwide so much that its fourth season finale amassed over 7 million viewers. The adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” also scored a whopping 94 on Metacritic this year. Showtime’s analogous shows, namely “Dexter” and “Homeland,” struggled to reach such a reception. “Dexter’s” series finale, despite dismal writing and a complete mishandling of Dexter and Deb’s fate, reached its highest rat-ings ever with 2.8 million people tuning in. Similarly, “Homeland’s” third season finale drew 2.4 million view-ers. Another Showtime favor-ite, “Ray Donovan,” started strong with 1.56 million view-

ers in its second episode, but dropped to .7 million this year. Its critical reviews were little more than lukewarm. Showtime’s magnum opus of the moment, “Masters of Sex,” finds itself in the best position to challenge HBO. With stellar ratings and a blooming fandom, the peri-od piece about Dr. William Masters and Virginia Johnson has the most prom-ise for the network. The series also gives Lizzy Caplan the shot at TV excellence she should have received on “Party Down.” Numbers and ratings will never end the rivalry or the debate over which network reigns supreme. Important to take away, however, is the cal-iber of television from both camps. Even if Showtime falls short of HBO’s ratings and awards, the networks complement each other by demanding excellence in writing. We’ll soon see once again why these networks have fundamentally changed tele-vision. “The Affair,” already acclaimed prior to its release, debuts on Oct. 12. The drama will star Dominic West from “The Wire” and examine the psychological trauma attached to extramarital affairs. Over on HBO, the mere rumor mill of “True Detective’s” sophomore out-ing has kept bloggers and magazines awake at night for months now. That’s a power-ful testament to writer and creator Nic Pizzolatto’s mas-terpiece. Now that Farrell and Vaughn have been con-firmed, there’ll be months more of anticipation leading up to season two. So, Showtime or HBO? I choose both. The decades’ long rivalry has revolution-ized television for us lucky viewers and the fierce com-petition promises years more of entertainment and inge-nuity to come.

Alexander Frail can be reached [email protected].

Showtime, HBO spar for eminence

T E L E V I S I O N

MCT

Jeff Tweedy at the Shoreline Amphitheatre on Oct. 25, 2008.

Tom Hardy lifts ‘The Drop’ with empathetic performance

By nathan FrontieroCollegian Staff

Make no mistake – “The Drop” is not a crime thriller. The titular drop, which refers to a bar picked for discretely depositing mob money each night, is just suspenseful pad-ding for the more intimate focus beneath it. A title card in the end credits notes the film is based on a Dennis Lehane short story titled “Animal Rescue,” and indeed the film exudes a smaller, atmospher-ic feel. To accomplish this, Dennis Lehane adapted the script himself and Michaël R. Roskam’s direction hews to the tighter narrative scope familiar to the short story form. The ever-transformative Tom Hardy holds the film together like an iron vise. Here he disappears behind Bob Saginowski, a Brooklyn bar-tender at Cousin Marv’s, one of the many drop bars con-trolled by Chechen mobsters. Hardy’s narration introduces the neighborhood’s rule and the exposition isn’t grating. Roskam puts the brunt of the film on his star’s shoulders, and boy, can Hardy lift. You’ll

recognize the actor instantly. Beyond his character’s ward-robe, there isn’t much in the way of changing Hardy’s typi-cal rugged look. The magic is in his dialect and physicality. Bob is a lonely, soft-spo-ken man and Hardy nails his every stiff, restrained nuance. It’s practically enough to only watch him. Hardy is mesmer-izing. I found myself hing-ing on his every gently rasp-ing word, waiting for him in every scene. He speaks with an impeccable Brooklyn accent and makes each line resonate like a riddle gradu-ally unspooling. Bob is rather enigmatic and the film’s refus-al to spell him out offers more satisfying suspense than the mob subplot. In the overall scheme, Bob’s arc carries far more heft, which is great since beneath the film’s laboriously suspenseful plotting is an ach-ing empathetic core. Roskam pushes us to feel for Bob, to identify and align with him, and then pulls up the mir-ror to show us what we have become. The effect is jarring-ly divisive. I left the theater unsure if I wanted to cry out of deep sadness or recoil in utter horror. This emotional duality res-onates in a way that the larger plot simply fails to. Luckily,

Roskam and Lehane under-stand how to tip the balance appropriately. They focus the story on its most arresting elements. Particular attention is paid to the train of events that spin out after Bob finds a pit bull puppy abandoned in a trashcan. We see Hardy’s burly, quiet man cradle the injured dog and it’s heart-breaking. Nicolas Karakatsanis’ cinematography hibernates within the chilling intimacy of these scenes. He expertly traps the palette in the dingy urban frost of the winter weeks at the tail end of the holidays. I was reminded of how stunningly quiet the sea-son is. The temporal back-drop is as repressed as the film’s protagonist. Roskam makes only subtly pointed gestures to underline critical details. At one point, Bob stands in a doorway in the back of the bar, shrouded entirely in red. The impres-sion is dark and it’s probably the most direct window we get into deciphering his charac-ter until the denouement. The director knows to restrain himself and simply allow his lead to bring the audience into the icy shadows. Amid the unnecessarily elusive events, some pieces and players fall to under-

played beats. The most dis-appointing of these is cousin Marv himself, the bar owner played with gruff commitment by the late James Gandolfini. Marv is a thinly sketched character, brusque and stuck, and constantly complaining about the stature he once had in the neighborhood, a power that time and change have stripped from him. It’s hard to watch Gandolfini relegat-

ed to such a beat part. You’ll want to squint your eyes and look away as Marv himself does in one of his final scenes. Gandolfini’s character, like the crime plot that involves him, ends up being almost entirely inconsequential. “The Drop” tries and mostly fails to build a bigger situation into a smaller scale. Credit falls inextricably to Tom Hardy, who again deliv-

ers a devastatingly immersive performance and thus holds the film afloat. When Bob delivers his bookending nar-ration and this story disap-pears like winter water under the Brooklyn Bridge, “The Drop” reaches somewhere inside your heart and hurts in the right way.

Nathan Frontiero can be reached at [email protected].

Lehane’s adaptation uneven in the end

F I L M R E V I E W

MCT

Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace star as Bob and Nadia, respectively, in “The Drop.”

The mission statement of the University of Massachusetts Student Government Association is “to establish and protect the democratic system for under-graduate university governance.” The organization prides itself on these grounds. In their attempt to play govern-ment and pretend democracy, the SGA hosts two elections each year, for senators in the fall and the executive cabi-

net in the spring. At the time of the spring 2014 election, there were 19,697

undergraduate students at UMass Amherst. The SGA Elections Commission counted 2, 324 votes in the under-graduate SGA election for president and vice president, for an overall undergraduate turnout of 11.8 percent. Just over ten percent of the undergraduate student body elected their leaders. Fortunately, the fall 2014 elections saw slight improvement with a turnout rate of 16 percent. However, if you are familiar with these two election reports released by Elections Commission, you’ll notice that these numbers do not match those that were for-mally reported. But the discrepancies for both have sim-ple explanations. Last spring, the Elections Commission invalidated 1,304 votes for president and vice president, dropping the turnout numbers. This fall, the Elections Commission reported, without a source, a student popula-tion of 22,000, which is noticeably higher than the Office of Institutional Research’s enrollment projection of 20,880. I choose to use the numbers that I feel is accurate. Another hallmark of recent SGA elections is contro-versy, and no matter how slight, it happens every time. This fall, there was a complaint filed – apparently anony-mously – against a candidate, Anthony Vitale. The com-plaining party alleged that candidate Vitale prematurely posted campaigning material, thus “insinuating the use of his own funds to create flyers.” Luckily for now-Senator Vitale, his 250 votes constituted 31.8 percent of the total cast, though voters could cast ballots for up to three can-didates in Orchard Hill Residential Area. Last spring opposing presidential candidates filed simi-lar complaints against the invalidated candidate ticket. On one occasion, an opposing candidate complained that another had announced their candidacy early, resulting in a 24-hour suspension from campaigning, and just days later, they filed another complaint inferring that another candidate had used their own funds to produce materials. The Elections Commission later invalidated the ticket, of which I was a part of, based on these complaints. In that case, we received 35.9 percent, with a 4 percent margin of victory.

Senate elections have a significantly higher number of candidates each year, but somehow far fewer complaints are filed against the candidates. This indicates political apathy surrounding the SGA, but also that the SGA has an inability to conduct outreach and is averse to bylaw reform. Insider influence is pervasive in the SGA. In the spring 2014 elections, numerous mistakes and incompetency in the Elections Commission caused high tension between candidates and the commission. So it’s no surprise to me that they took swift action and were quick to enforce rules and sanctions against candidates. However, infractions committed by the Elections Chancellor himself, includ-ing soliciting votes, went overlooked; they regarded it as harmless. Elections that consistently report less than a 20 percent turnout are a joke. A set of archaic and self-contradictory bylaws is a joke. Claiming to be a representative organiza-tion with a senate largely composed of English and politi-cal science majors is a joke. The joke is on us, the constituent students. We are the

ones impacted by policies moved through the SGA. We are the ones enchanted by the idea of running for office ourselves, only to meet a snarky, exclusive system. We are the ones too apathetic to vote because we haven’t seen the apparent fruits of our great leaders’ labors. I don’t hate our SGA, but I do care about it. And I want to empower the students who are questioning an institu-tion that is too comfortable with mediocrity, pressuring an invisible student trustee and leading a campus that belongs to us.

Emily Devenney is a Collegian contributor. She can be reached at [email protected].

Have you ever thought about living off-campus instead of in the dorms? I

think it’s a great idea. If you find the right situation for yourself off of the University of Massachusetts campus, you can usually pay less for housing, have a more relax-ing life style with more options and have more free-dom. The least expensive hous-ing option that is available at UMass, which you can find listed on the UMass Amherst Residential Life website, is about $2,600 per semester and if you so choose, you can pay up to about $5,400. We can do a bit of simple math and come to realize that at $2,600 a semester, a student would be paying about $650 a month. To put this into perspective, I rented a cot-tage in downtown Amherst for $650 a month last year. That’s the same price for an entire cottage, compared to a shared dorm room. That was also a situation in which I was living on my own, which is one of the least desirable financial situations a student could ask for when living off-campus. Of course I did have to pay for heat, electricity and internet to bring my home up to the same standard of living as a dorm. This cost me, on average, an extra $150 a month. However, my home also had its own kitchen. This means that I was able to cook my own meals. This may not seem like a very big deal, but from a financial perspec-tive, a kitchen can be very helpful. If you know how to shop with a keen eye and how to prepare food in the right ways, you can cook and eat happily for far less than it costs to pay for a meal plan at the dining halls. I can make a pot of chili with rice on the side for less than $30 and have it last me at least seven or eight meals. That’s about four dollars a meal, which is definitely cheaper than eat-ing at the dining hall. Now, considering rent and utilities versus a standard dorm fee as well as consider-ing the cost of a meal plan compared to the cost of cook-ing your own food, you may still break even between the two options if you decided to live on your own off-campus. Simply finding a roommate can guarantee you will live for less. This year, I man-aged to rent a house with two other friends, and we each pay between $400 and $450 a month, which comes to about

$600 total per month with utilities each. In this house, we also have an entire living room, a huge kitchen and our own private back yard. All of this and we are less than a mile away from campus. I’m not saying that there are thousands of houses just like this one, but it was not dif-ficult at all for us to find. We even waited until the week before school started. I know of at least a dozen other peo-ple that are in very similar

situations themselves. If the copious amounts of money one can save by liv-ing off-campus isn’t enough motivation for you, con-sider your quality of living. When you live in a dorm, you have to follow a distinct set of rules set by the school. You have to be quiet at cer-tain hours, you have to sign friends in to have them over and you can’t even have a friendly gathering without worrying about getting writ-ten up. We aren’t angels. If there are rules many of us will break them and prob-ably get in trouble at one point or another. Even study-ing can present a challenge because of the unstoppable noise of hundreds of people living within close proximity of you. Of course, UMass requires that all freshmen spend their school year in on-campus housing. I think that this is an odd and somewhat point-less rule, but there can def-initely be some benefits to staying on-campus your first year. If you come from living at home for your entire life, living amongst your peers, especially random ones can be an enchanting, enlighten-ing and educational experi-ence. Everyone should live with his or her fair share of strangers to get a feel for the world. There is no doubt this can be helpful. So, if you are a freshman, enjoy your year on campus and make some good friends. After all, they are potential roommates. If you aren’t a freshman, go save some money, gain some freedom and make noise as late as you want. Why pay more for less?

Ian Hagerty is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].

Opinion EditorialEditorial@DailyCollegiancomThursday, September 25, 2014

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

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t h e m a s s a c h u s e t t s D a i ly C o l l e g i a n

Kate Leddy

Ian Hagerty Emily Devenney

“The joke is on us, the constituent students. We are the ones impacted by policies moved through SGA. We are the ones enchanted by the idea of running for office ourselves, only to

meet a snarky, exclusive system.”

“That’s the same price for an entire cottage, compared to a shared

dorm room.”

You should probably move off-campus

Fixing the SGA is our responsibility

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN6 Thursday, September 25, 2014 DailyCollegian.com

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I don’t know, “fall” doesn’t really sound too much lIke pumpkIn to me.

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THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN Thursday, September 25, 2014 7DailyCollegian.com

Notebook: UMass adds opponents through 2022

By Mark ChiarelliCollegian Staff

The Massachusetts foot-ball team announced a host of scheduling agreements through 2022 Wednesday, officially laying the ground-work to operate as an Indepe ndent after its agreement with the Mid-American Conference ends in 2015. In total, UMass announced 19 new games – which includes nine games in both the 2016 and 2017 seasons – and several multi-year agreements with promi-nent national programs. UMass announced four-year series with both Brigham Young University and Army. The series with Army will extend as far as 2022. The Minutemen will also face Troy in 2016, as well as BYU, Hawaii, Old Dominion and Appalachian State in both 2016 and 2017. UMass is scheduled to face Tennessee and Ohio in 2017. The Minutemen will offi-cially play 2016 and 2017 as an independent while they look for a new conference home. All scheduled home games could be played at either Gillette Stadium or McGuirk Stadium.

Frohnapfel eyes weekly improvement

When UMass coach Mark Whipple revisited tape fol-lowing his team’s 48-7 loss to Penn State, he came away impressed with his quarter-back Blake Frohnapfel.

Despite steady defen-sive pressure from the Nittany Lions, Whipple said Frohnapfel made some “NFL throws” under duress. Whipple didn’t want to contemplate where UMass would be this season if it didn’t have Frohnapfel under center. According to Frohnapfel, he’s measuring his person-al growth this season on a weekly basis. “The game to game improvements that I was looking for, it was almost like the theme of the week,” Frohnapfel said. “It feels good to have that vote of con-fidence from your coach but there are still plays I need to make and games we need to win.” Through four games, Frohnapfel’s completed 49.6 percent of his passes for 882 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions. Entering conference play, his hope is that UMass’ diverse offense will catch opposing defens-es off guard and result in increased production. “A lot of (MAC) teams are pretty similar with spread looks and it’s good that when teams face us, they’re going to face more of a multiples set and it will cause prob-lems for them,” Frohnapfel said.

Abrokwah returns

Sophomore running back Shadrach Abrokwah is eligi-ble to play Saturday against Bowling Green after being ineligible for the first four games this season due to a “non-disciplinary, non-foot-ball” issue. “Let’s just say it’s been

four games too long,” Abrokwah said with a smile after Tuesday’s practice. Abrokwah appeared in two games as a fresh-man and ran for 203 yards on 51 carries. Whipple said Abrokwah would receive in-game reps and should play a role in the running game moving forward. His emer-gence comes at a time when UMass could desperately use a boost at running back. The Minutemen haven’t had a rusher go over 47 yards this season and ran for just three total yards against Penn State.

Wylie remains starter

Whipple also noted Wednesday that freshman kicker Matthew Wylie would still handle kicking duties against Bowling Green. Wylie – who supplanted original starter Blake Lucas after three games – missed his first collegiate field goal attempt against the Nittany Lions. Wylie didn’t make strong contact on his 39-yard attempt, pushing it wide to the right. But Whipple isn’t giving up on Wylie yet. “He missed one,” Whipple said. “It’s not a career. A lot of guys have missed one.” Wylie and Lucas compet-ed for the starting spot in training camp and continue to do so each week in prac-tice. Lucas will handle kick-off duties Saturday.

Mark Chiarelli can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Mark_Chiarelli.

Frohnapfel seeks some improvments

F O O T BA L L

The newly renovated McGuirk Stadium and Football Performance Center, taken on Sept. 23 and 24.

TOP: CADE BELISLE/COLLEGIAN

LEFT: CADE BELISLE/COLLEGIAN

RIGHT: CADE BELISLE/COLLEGIAN

BOTTOM: ROBERT RIGO/COLLEGIAN

By Ross GienieczkoCollegian Staff

After Friday’s 2-1 overtime win against Fairfield, it’s not hard for the Massachusetts men’s soccer team to feel good about themselves. “(The win) was nice,” UMass interim coach Devin O’Neill said.”There was some pressure lifted.” The comeback victory showcased how much poten-tial the Minutemen have on their roster. UMass played team-first soccer and showed tenacity and perseverance after overcoming a late 1-0 deficit against the Stags last Friday. This weekend, the Minutemen (1-5) look to build off their first win of the sea-son when they host Harvard

Friday afternoon and New Hampshire on Sunday. Forward Josh Schwartz has been the leader for UMass offensive this season,, his 14 shots are double the anyone else on the team, and his two goals include the overtime winner against Fairfield. Midfielder Luke Pavone and forward Mark Morris have also been notable contribu-tors on the attack as well. Defensively, the Minutemen are anchored by the heart and soul of its team, senior Matt Keys. He’s started every game for the Minutemen since he arrived as a freshman, and despite his designation as a defender, will play all over the field. Late in the game against the Stags, with his team trailing

1-0, Keys moved up to forward and headed in the game-tying goal. In net, sophomore Ryan Buckingham has started the last five games after sitting out the season opener, and has given the Minutemen solid, sure-handed play in goal. The Crimson (4-3) enters the contest on a four game winning streak, and they seem to be hitting their stride early in the season. They’ve scored 13 goals during the winning streak, which is led by a bal-anced offensive attack. Ten different players have com-

bined to score 15 goals on the season for Harvard. “We’re very impressed with what we’ve seen from them. They play very hard. … They’re big and physical and they’ve been quite prolific,” O’Neill said. The road has not been pleasant to the Crimson, whose three losses have all been away from Harvard’s historic Soldiers Field. The Wildcats (3-4), enter Sunday’s contest on a down-ward trend. They’ve lost two of their last three games and are also winless on the road this season.

Both teams however were victorious when they played UMass a season ago, as O’Neill pointed out the similarities between the two teams. “They’re both very physi-cal teams,” O’Neill said. “They’re going to challenge us in the defending area.” The weekend is full of opportunity for the Minutemen. They have an opportunity to build their first winning streak of the season and set the tone for Atlantic 10 conference play, which starts one week from Sunday. To beat either team – some-thing that would qualify a significant upset at this point in the season – UMass needs to be better at capitalizing on their scoring chances. In the first half of Friday’s

game against the Stags, the Minutemen squandered sev-eral opportunities that would have changed the tone of the game. O’Neill said the team is not reading too much into those missed chances, and instead needs to work on get-ting better as an offense over-all. “Sometimes, it just doesn’t happen.” O’Neill said. “We just want to improve the qual-ity of scoring chances we get.” Fridays contest against Harvard will take place at Rudd Field and is scheduled for 3:00 p.m., while Sundays’ match against UNH will start at 2 p.m.

Ross Gienieczko can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @RossGien.

@MDC_SPORTS [email protected] 25, 2014

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

A HOME OF THEIR OWNF O O T BA L L

UM excited to perform in front of peers

By MaRk chiaRelliCollegian Staff

Massachusetts football offensive tackle Tyrell Smith was in the midst of the short walk to practice from campus to McGuirk Stadium, when a car stopped next to him and two other teammates. The driver inside was a local UMass fan and excitably told Smith that he couldn’t wait to bring his children to Saturday’s Homecoming matchup against Bowling Green. For Smith, those types of encounters with fans are as unusual as they are are excit-ing. “I’ve never heard so much football talk in my three years here,” Smith said. “It’s excit-ing. The campus is excited, the team is excited, so it’s going to be a great time.” Saturday marks the first game at McGuirk Stadium in three seasons, as the Minutemen played their home

games at Gillette Stadium since making the jump to Division I FBS football. For many players and fans alike, it’s the first true on-campus football experience of their college careers. “I never really got to play here except for spring games and practices,” Smith, who is a junior, said. “So I feel like it’s going to be a great envi-ronment. A lot of people on campus are talking about how they can’t wait to come.” As of Wednesday, students inquiring about tickets at the box office were turned away. Entering the week, UMass was 3,000 tickets shy of a sellout. And as the buzz intensifies, players are experiencing the excitement firsthand. Minutemen quarterback Blake Frohnapfel – who is a graduate student – said Tuesday that one of his classes of 30 people started a Facebook group titled “Blake’s first game at McGuirk.” Safety Joe Colton noted that when he drove by the Stadium, he saw a line of porta-potty and hoped to see the entire field filled with tailgaters. Many players are eager to play in a more comfortable

environment. “UMass is kind of looked at as the zoo,” redshirt senior linebacker Stanley Andre said. “(It’s) just a large, populated community in which we’re really excited to perform in front of. We’re excited to play here, it’s been a while.” Andre is one of the few play-ers who remember what it’s like to play a game at McGuirk. He played in 11 games as a freshman and although he can’t vividly recall his play-ing time at McGuirk, he fondly remembered the atmosphere. Minutemen receiver Marken Michel also played three games at McGuirk as a freshman in 2011. “Honestly, it feels like it was yesterday,” Michel said. “The stadium was always packed, so for a freshman coming in it was kind of overwhelm-ing being in a college atmo-sphere.” Michel said that he’ll notice the crowd when the team first runs onto the field – he believes that’s the only time the crowd truly makes an impact – but the true draw is trying to impress his peers which he sees around campus. He’s also doled out advice to

younger players on the team who haven’t played a true home game at McGuirk before. “The young guys always come up to me and ask me, ‘How was it?’, Michel said. “I always tell them it was great. We had a lot of fun. It’s just a thing when you’re playing in front of your classmates and the people you see on campus all day, it’s a different feeling.” When fans file into McGuirk, they’ll see a stadium with drastically different aes-thetics after three years of ren-ovations. According to Colton, the new performance center, press box and field turf will only enhance the atmosphere. “When I first got here, what this place looked like … the old field was cement,” Colton said. “It wasn’t painted, it was rusting all around. To have it be like this now and have everyone coming back, everybody’s ready for a new beginning and a home game, it’s great.”

Mark Chiarelli can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Mark_Chiarelli.

CADE BELISLE/COLLEGIAN

McGuirk Stadium will host its first game since 2011, concluding three years of renovations to improve the facility.

UMass remains focused on BGSU

By andRew cyRCollegian Staff

By now, just about every-one on campus is aware that the Massachusetts football team is returning back to McGuirk this stadium for the first time in three years on Saturday. However, lost in all the commotion of Homecoming weekend and the pregame tailgate festivities, there’s one major thing that people are forgetting: there is still a football game to be played. And although the sto-ryline is setting up perfectly for a win in the “return to McGuirk,” the defending Mid-American Conference champion Bowling Green aren’t going to give in too eas-ily to make this a sweet home-coming for the Minutemen. On paper, UMass’ hardest part of its schedule is behind them. With four games against teams from “power five” conferences to open the season, the Minutemen are returning to conference play against the MAC, a confer-ence that better fits UMass’ style of play. “I don’t necessarily agree that the hardest part of the schedule is the beginning,” said Colton. “Although those were great teams with bigger schools, the MAC is not an easy conference. (Bowling Green) is a bowl team, and there are plenty of other teams that went to bowls in this conference.” The Falcons entered the season as preseason favorites to repeat as MAC champions, however after Matt Johnson – 2013 MAC Championship MVP – injured his hip in week one, sidelining him for the entire season, Bowling Green has experience more hurdles than it expected to this season. “We saw what they did to us last year, and their return-ing guys have been flying all over the field making plays,” Head Coach Mark Whipple said. Although Johnson’s injury has slowed down the Falcons offensive produc-tion, the major concern for Bowling Green head coach Dino Babers has been his team’s defensive woes. The Falcons rank dead

last in the country in a laun-dry list of categories includ-ing total yards against (2464), yards per game (616), and total passing yards against (1349). Over its first four games Bowling Green has allowed a total of 176 points, an average of 44 points per game, which is sixth worst in the country. Blake Frohnapfel will be the first to let you about his inconsistency with his deep ball this season. He’s hit Tajae Sharpe for two 77-yard touchdown receptions, but Frohnapfel’s missed plenty more open targets downfield. One major correlation for his struggles has been the change in offense. Frohnapfel has played his entire career in a spread formation before this season. Now under center, the offense runs a series of different formations that not many MAC teams will be accustomed to seeing. “It’s almost like the spread (offense) is the norm now,” Frohnapfel said. “Running this pro-style, multiple-set offense is different for teams because they haven’t much of that at all.” The Falcons on the other hand, is an offense that loves to push the tempo. Bowling Green loves to run the no-huddle, hurry up offense and use a combination of run-ning backs and receivers to keep the team fresh. Running backs Travis Greene and Fred Coppet lead the offen-sive charge with four rush-ing touchdowns apiece. “We just have to play full speed in practice and pre-pare yourself not only as an individual but as a defensive unit as well. At the end of practice we did a ton of pur-suing drills with a lot of run-ning. That’s the only way we can prepare for an offense like that. … They run a play about every 18 to 20 seconds so we have to be ready for that.” The wait is over, and the return to McGuirk is set to kickoff at 3 p.m. Fans may be excited, but for the Minutemen, this is just another football game.

Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected], and can be followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.

Minutemen ready for weekend tilts with Harvard and UNHM E N ’ S S O C C E R

“They’re both very physical teams. They’re going to challenge us in the defending area. ”

Devin O’NeillInterim UMass coach